Referral is a fancy way of saying [You've been sold as a lead]
Do you think of yourself as a real estate buyer or do you want to be sold as a commodity like perhaps cattle. Effectively, that is what becoming a lead is. Referral is only a fancy way of saying it. And now Redfin has rejoined the referral fray, having failed to make any money with their revolutionary real estate model of rebating a portion of the commission back to the buyer.
Read Dustin's take at Rain City Guide on Redfin Circles Back to an Old Biz Model.
The old joke about businesses not making money, maybe they'll make it up in volume. 